Tuesday, December 28, 2010

One of my very favorite areas of the bibliofilic world is book trade labels. I have a modest collection I'm pretty proud of. There are a few websites devoted to these gems of the book world, and now there is another, http://www.booksellerlabels.com/ Gabe Konrad of Bay Leaf Used & Rare Books has put together a wonderful site with lots of great information all gathered into a convenient, useful site.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I hope you already subscribe to the fantastic blog Bookman's Log. Greg Gibson has interesting posts, but today's is just wonderful. A rare glimpse into what and why bibliophiles love books so much. I'm also pleased to see he's tackling writing the story of John Ledyard... now if we could find an inventory of the books he owned... He was a fascinating guy, tattoos and all.

I'm still looking for guidance on book hunting in Minneapolis! Let me know!

Beloved readers, looks like I'm going to Mankato and Minneapolis for the holidays, and it sounds like I'll have some time to be up to my own devices, which of course means books. However, these are unfamiliar hunting grounds for me. Luckily, I have the fabulous iphone app Local Books by LibraryThing.com, which is fantastic for finding book stores once you are there... but I won't have time to visit them all. Thanks to LibraryThing's Local tab you can see, that would be difficult. Even though there are dozens of bookstores, not many have descriptions or reviews.

This is where you come in. Does anyone have any "must-see" book shops in the twin cities or Mankato? Any members of the Ampersand Club have some keen advice?

My favorite places are book mines. Places that have a *lot* of books, and often sell them by weight, or some other randomly selected qualification. For more on book mines, read up on the wide, but sadly shallow vein I discovered in NW North Dakota.

I also wouldn't mind hitting a very *nice* bookstore. Someone who would have association copies, fine bindings, first editions. You know, the best of civilization. I don't get to see a whole lot of that very often.

Friday, December 10, 2010

The one thing we were able to accomplish (really) during my time with the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma, was a donation of Washington Irving volume to Emily Dickinson personal library project: Replenish the Shelves at the Emily Dickinson Museum. Washington Irving has an interesting connection to Oklahoma and was our choice there. I wonder if there was a Montana connection to Emily Dickinson's library. I may need to get her a birthday present.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Penguin Books has another great exhibition for me to share. The main idea is to: "... print, etch, sculpt, photograph, whatever their medium, whatever their style... create a book cover for a novel of their choice, a book that has inspired them, a book that has had a profound impact on them or a book that they remember fondly as a child ... all that we asked was that they create their original artwork to the traditional format and size of a Penguin book 198mm (h) x 129mm (w)"

You, dear reader, can view 100 entries here. Many, many, many of these would be very happy to live on my shelf. Just sayin.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

But, maybe you're like me and the closest it's coming is 800+ miles, so I won't be able to check it out in person. HOWEVER, do not fret, do not frown! You can see the exhibit online with huge detailed photos of each submission. My favorite: Melinda Padgett's Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop. I like traditional binding forms that are able to draw creatively on the themes/ elements/ whatever from the story within. This is fantastic and I would weep with joy to be able to put such a beautiful book on my shelf.